


Tattoos and candies

by anneso_laig



Category: Demi Lovato (Musician)
Genre: #Demi, #DemiLovato, #NoSmutImSorry, #PleaseRead, #SorryNotSorry, British Character, Candy, Complicated Relationships, F/M, Love, Relationship(s), Tattoos, To Read, ilovesmut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 16:53:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11948532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anneso_laig/pseuds/anneso_laig
Summary: When Demi Lovato is trying to escape journalists, she enters a candyshop. There, she meets with a very handsome Candyman...





	Tattoos and candies

*** Tattoos and candies ***

 

“Bloody hell!”  
Eric was rubbing his head and trying to put his blond hair back up in his bun. He was searching a box under a shelf from the back room when he heard the bell.  
As the front door of the Candy Shop shuts, he starts to run to the store before slowing down.  
Play it cool man, this is not your first customer.  
As he walks to the counter, he sees a girl watching out the window. She looks a bit stressed out.  
“Well, hello to you!” he says with the most enthusiastic voice he can use.  
The girl jumps with surprise and turns around. She seems confused as she looks at Eric putting her black and blue hair behind her ears.  
“I am sorry, I haven’t seen you there.”  
She checks the room as she doesn’t really know where she is exactly. After a few seconds, she walks to the counter and asks for a few different sorts of candies. As Eric fills the little bag with what she is asking for, he notices that she looks a bit nervous.  
“You are not here for the candies, are you?”  
“Why are you saying that?” she answers right away. As Eric doesn’t say a word, she admits “No I’m not. I am trying to avoid … someone. I am so sorry. I’ll just leave. How much do I owe you for the candies.”  
“Oh no I didn’t mean to make you leave!” Eric replies feeling like he stepped out of line. “Candies are on the house, you can stay as long as you want, love. It’s not like there is a lot of customers coming in anyway.” He adds trying to cool down the atmosphere.

Eric was a twenty-seven year-old-man from London. After graduating from a prestigious school in the U.K. and enjoying a life without pressure as a bartender in a little pub for a few years, he decided to leave everything behind and move to Los Angeles. There, he could do what he always wanted to do before he started his bartender job : open a Candy Shop.  
After his roommate and best friend Ollie left him with the business plan they had worked hard on during their years at the London Business School, he had thrown these dreams away. But it didn’t last very long.  
And there he was, in his brand new Candy Shop with his third customer, well if we can call her a customer.

“That’s really sweet of you, but at least let me pay for the candies.” She insisted giving him way too much money. “Keep the change.” She added with a bright smile.  
“Alright then” Eric puts the change in his empty “sweet tips” jar.  
An awkward silence settles in the store. Eric uses this opportunity to inspect the woman, still with his big bright smile on. She was quite beautiful, but with her own style. She had black hair that was fading into blue at its end. She was wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans shorts and a red shirt tied up around her hips. She looked like a dancer from a music video. But everyone looked that way in L.A. right?  
“I’m Demi by the way.” she says stretching out her hand to Eric with a little mischief in her eyes.  
“Eric, nice to meet you”. As he shakes her hand, her eyes stop on his many tattoos inked to his forearm.  
“You are not from L.A., are you? Or even from the US” She says after a moment.  
“No, I’m not.” Eric replies with his most beautiful British accent. “I am from London, I just moved here.”  
At that, Demi watches Eric without a word, looking like she was searching for something in his eyes, which made him a little uncomfortable.  
Trying to revive the conversation, Eric leans against the counter asking: “Now that we know each other way better, can I ask you a question?”  
“Sure, go ahead” she answers sitting on the edge of a shelf full of candy jars, starting to eat the jelly beans she just bought.  
“This person you are avoiding, is it the man over there?” he asks shaking his head towards someone standing across the street with a camera in his hands.  
“Oh! Hum … yeah …” Demi says looking at her bag of candies.  
“Do you want me to ask him to leave?” he says standing up slowly.  
“Oh no!”  
Demi puts her hands on his torso to keep him from going out of the shop. They both stop moving for a few seconds before Demi puts her hands down. “Sorry … it’s just … it is not a good idea.” She adds trying to explain herself. “He’s a paparazzi, I wouldn’t want medias to have something else to write about me.”  
Eric’s face lights up with surprise and curiosity.  
“A paparazzi? Just that?” I will never get used to that city.  
Demi doesn’t reply, inspecting Eric’s every expression.  
“Could you do me a favor?” Taken by surprise, Eric nods. Is he supposed to be the one doing her a favor? She was the one squatting his store to escape a paparazzi, wasn’t she?  
“Let’s pretend I haven’t said that.”  
“No way!” Eric said before he could stop himself. “I mean, if I had a celebrity in my store I would like to know. I mean, I wouldn’t have made you pay the candies if I’d known.” He says gesturing towards the little bag.  
Demi stands up uncomfortably. “This is exactly what I was trying to avoid. I don’t want you to favor me just because I know how to sing.” she answers a quick smile on her face.  
“Oh so you’re a singer” Eric says taking his smartphone out of his pocket.  
“What are you doing?”  
“Checking your name on the internet.” He answers with a big smile, proud of his idea.  
Her face turns red. She jumps out of the shelf making the jars move a little and tries to take Eric’s phone from his hand. But she fails and the blond man have time to type ‘Demi singer’ on google.  
“Well, hello miss Demi Lovato” he says lowering his phone to face Demi as he clicks on a Wikipedia link.  
“At least let me tell you about my life before you look up by yourself and make up a wrong idea about me.” She says trying to reason him after a brief look out the window. He must still be here.  
He puts his phone back in the back pocket of his tight black pants and lean on the counter again, his arms crossed over his chest. “Alright, you have my attention. But be quick about it, I have a lot of customers to take care of” He jokes showing around with his hands.

 

***

For the next hour, Demi and Eric exchange about the daily life of a singer, interrupted by some brief looks at the window. They talk about how she began her career when she was little and how singing began a job. She also explained how her life twisted when she went to rehab after falling into drugs, alcohol and other nasty habits and how it changed her, leading to why the paparazzi were a bit harsh on her these days. Then, it was time for Eric to explain why he moved to Los Angeles, a place more thriving to start a business. He explained that his life was kind of a mess before he moved here and that he needed a good fresh start. They went on talking about tattoos, about their favorite ones and the places that hurt the most. Eric have much more experience on that subject since both his arms and chest are filled with ink.

After inspecting his forearms with fascination, Demi looked at her watch. “Shit, I’ve got to go! I have a meeting with my management team.” She stands up and prepares to leave. But when she looks at the window, she freezes. The paparazzi must have called his friends because there is a bunch of them standing outside with their camera in the hand.  
As Eric joins Demi, he takes her arm and says “follow me, I’ve got a secret back door.”  
Demi turns to face him with an expression of shock on her face “Why didn’t you tell me that, like hours ago??”  
Eric starts to walk towards the back room “I guess I forgot … sorry. Come.”  
As they reach the door, which is hidden behind a shelf and open out into a back alley, they both stop, looking at each other.  
“Thank you for your hospitality” Demi says taking a pen and a receipt out of her bag. “Let me repay you.” She writes something on the piece of paper and gives it to him. “Be at this address at 8 tomorrow night and call me when you are there.”  
Then she hits the road leaving him with the address of a venue and a phone number.

***

Yesterday was a very odd day for Eric. He has been in Los Angeles for a few months now, but he had never met any celebrities until now. And, what a bizarre way to meet one of them. One thing’s for sure, having a singer in his store could make some good publicity. He wouldn’t say no to that! And, he was quite right about it.  
When he opened his store that morning, there was a queue in front of The Sweetest Things’ front door.  
They turned out to be just fans - or lovatics as they call themselves- but it was ten times more customers than before this strange encounter.  
When he closes the shop for his lunch break, he checks out the address Demi had given him the day before. It turns out to be a back entrance to the Staples Center. Even for a British guy, that was impressive. Hell, maybe he could show up at this address and see what miss Demi Lovato could give him in exchange for his “hospitality”. He was wearing his best outfit anyway, which consisted in a classic black T-shirt, black pants and a leather jacket.  
He closes the store earlier to be able to arrive on time, even though it is just a 22 minutes ride with the Metro Blue Line.  
After turning around the building to find the right entrance, he finally arrives at the right door. But aside from a security guard and some staff members smoking a cigarette, there isn’t many people there.

Eric puts his phone out and dials the number written on the receipt. He is very surprised when he hears a man’s voice at the other end of the line. “Demi’s phone, Bran to serve you.”  
“Hum, hello? It’s Eric.” he says uncertain.  
“Who?”  
“Eric, Demi gave me this number yesterday and …”  
“Oh the Candyman! Sure! Are you here yet? Ok, don’t move, I’m coming”  
The Candyman? That was a first! Wait, what does he mean by “I’m coming”?  
A few minutes later, the door bursts open and a thin man comes out of the entrance. He catches Eric’s eye and looks at him from head to toe. Eric approaches him, not really sure what to do.  
“So, YOU are the Candyman … very nice to meet you” he says with a big malicious smile. “Come on in”.

It is the first time Eric comes to this venue and it’s definitely impressive. As he walks through the corridors, he tries to imagine all the artistes who tread upon this soil through the years.  
The guy from the phone is leading the way. But it is only after a few minutes that he turns to face Eric pulling out his hand. “I am Brandon, by the way. But you can call me Bran. That’s what people usually do”. Confused, Eric shakes his hand. What the bloody hell is going on ? Who the hell is this guy and where does he bring me ? Is the only thing that goes through his mind as this Bran guy turns back and walks again.  
Eric hurries to be at the same level as Bran and asks “Are you leading me to Demi’s dressing room?”  
“Of course not!” he answers with a wicked smile.  
“Then, where are we going?” Eric is starting to wonder why he came. He doesn’t know anything about Demi Lovato or this Brandon guy. Besides, he hates not knowing what is going on.  
But after a few months in L.A., he still doesn’t have many friends or acquaintances, apart from this group of guys he met at a dinner a couple of weeks ago and the owner of his flat.  
Hell I don’t have anything to lose anyway.

After crossing a few other corridors and climbing a couple of stairs, Brandon and Eric go through a door that leads to what looks like a suite in the middle of the bleachers. Eric has time to look at the stage and all the seats around it before Bran shows him his seat and goes out of the room.  
“Wait! Can you tell me what’s going on, now?”  
Bran looks at Eric for a few seconds watching him from head to toe one more time and answers “you’ll see ... Candyman” before closing the door behind him.

***

The door of Demi’s dressing room bursts open making her jump, even though she has spent the past fifteen minutes being on the look for Bran’s return.  
Brandon shuts the door behind him and stops putting his back against the door and pinching his lips.  
“Soooo?” Demi asks after seconds which felt like hours.  
“Oh… my… god! He is so sexy! Oh and this accent ...” he answers coming to seat next to Demi, his hands on her laps. A big smile forms on Demi’s mouth.  
“That is not what I want to hear, you know that!” she tells him poking his arm.  
“I know, I know, no man in your bed this year. Does that mean I can have him?”   
Demi punches him hard on the shoulder drawing an “aoutch” on Bran’s mouth. “Stop it and tell me how he reacted when you led him to his seat.”  
“Well, I guess he was astonished because he didn’t say a word … he asked me if we were going to your dressing room though …”  
After a few seconds, Demi starts to laugh without being able to stop herself.  
“Are you giggling?” Bran asks with his famous wicked smile.  
“No I’m not!” says Demi turning back to her mirror to adjust her make up. “Go away, I need to get ready” she adds without watching him but still with her smile on.  
“Alright, but just because you need to be ready in 10.” Brandon answers after watching his watch. At this, he left the room closing softly the door behind him leaving Demi with her thoughts.

***

So is that what I’m here for?  
Eric has to admit to himself, he is pretty impressed. He met this girl the day before and now he is in the VIP bleachers watching her do her own show. And, she is quite good! What a voice, even if it’s not really his favorite kind of music.  
But then, what is he supposed to do after the show? Does he just have to wait here for this Bran guy to come and pick him up? Or is he just supposed to leave? It is just about paying back anyway, isn’t it?

Right before the last song from the curtain call, Eric feels his phone buzzing in his back pocket. When he looks at the screen, he sees a text from an unknown number : “Be at the back entrance in 2 minutes”.  
Ok that is becoming very odd. After hesitating a few seconds, he stands up and go towards the door.  
He is amazed by his sense of direction as he goes back through the corridors he crossed an hour ago. When he reaches the exit - or the back entrance, never mind - he finds Demi and Bran waiting for him leaning on a black car.  
Demi must have come directly from the show as her face is still red. But she found the time to change to a white tank top and tight black jeans.  
“How did you get here so fast?” Eric asks, astonished.  
“We are used to be quick after the show, to avoid the crowd.” she looks at her watch and add “which should be here any minute, now.” As Brandon jumps on the passenger’s seat, Demi opens the back door of the car.  
“Come on in.” She says showing him the way.  
Alright then, he thinks to himself before seating on the leather seats. YOLO as those American people say.  
“So Candyman, you choose, where are we going?” Bran says watching him throw the rearview mirror.  
“Can someone explain me what is going on? I must admit I am quite lost here.”  
Demi turns her face to him with a reassuring smile.  
“We are not abducting you if that’s what you are afraid of. I would like to offer you a drink or something, you know … to thank you for yesterday. You offered me shelter after all.”  
“You don’t have to do this to thank me. I mean, the show was far enough!” Eric is cut out by Brandon “Oh come on! She is offering you a night out with two awesome people. Just tell us where you want to go.” He says facing him as he twists himself on the passenger seat.  
“Well, I am new in the US. But I may know a pub somewhere near my Candy Shop.” He answers a bit uncomfortable trying a smile.  
Demi looks at him for a few seconds then admits “I don’t drink anymore, alcohol I mean.”  
Damned, you knew it you dumb-ass.  
“Right! Hum … I may know a nice juice bar not far from here? Its name is Clover. A 20 minutes ride?”

***

After the second glass, it is Brandon’s turn to ask some questions to Eric about his past life.  
They have been sitting in a booth for around an hour now and they already talked about how Bran and Demi met on her Camp Rock tour. They discussed a lot about how being famous feels like. How Demi deals with paparazzi, how she spent a lot of time travelling and so on.  
But now, it is up to Brandon to choose the next subject of conversation. And, Demi knows him too well to think he is going to be gentle with this poor Candyman.  
She was actually right.  
“Ok, why exactly did you come in the US. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in your business plan bullshit. Sure, it must be because LA is a great place to be successful. But there must be something behind it, right?”  
There it is! Brandon’s famous word diarrhea.  
Eric looks confused and opens his mouth to say something, but doesn’t. Gosh, why did I bring him here?  
“To be honest ...” Eric stars while Demi is watching her fingernails ashamed “There is no other reasons. Yeah, I have some family issues. But who doesn’t? I really came here to start my business.”  
“Alright, I believe you.” Bran answers as Demi feels the atmosphere cooling down.  
Thank god.  
“But why this new business, then? I mean, why candies? Do you like little children ...”  
“Ok Bran, that’s enough.” Demi cuts him off. “Sorry Eric, Bran can be so stupid sometimes.” She adds with an angry look at Brandon.  
“It was a joke! Calm your tits! I’ll change the subject.” Brandon says looking at Demi before focusing back on Eric. “Are we the first celebrities you’ve met so far?” He asks with a wicked smile.  
“Yes, you are.” Eric’s smile is so bright that Demi forgets immediately the rudeness of her best friend.  
“Well, lucky you because we are the best ones.” Bran says looking excited. “One more question though and you’ll have to be very honest with me.”  
Oh god that’s not good.  
“Are you sure you are freaking straight? No, because I could …”  
“OK that’s it, we’re leaving!” Demi interrupts him feeling her face turning red.

At those words, Demi and Brandon exchanged a few banalities with Eric asking him if they could drive him home. But he insisted on going home by himself saying he liked walking by night in the streets of L.A.  
Bullshit! I’ll never see him again …, Demi thought, feeling ashamed as hell.  
Bran and her didn’t exchange a word during the way home, even though Brandon tried to apologize a hundred times.  
Demi felt too angry at him to even talk when she left the car and entered her house. Maybe she was a bit overreacting, but who cares, now? She went to bed immediately and turned under her covers for what felt like hours before being able to finally fall asleep.

***

The day after the show, Eric had the whole day to think about what happened so far. Not because he didn’t really have many customers, candy lovers was rushing in since Demi came. His mind wasn’t really on the customers.  
It was a strange encounter, he had already figured that out. What kind of people invites you to their own show before paying you a drink anyway? Was that the way groupies were feeling?  
And this Brandon guy, what an ass! But he had to admit, he kind of liked the guy. Maybe it was his directness, English people aren’t like that. If they can avoid a subject - any subject - they do.  
The day went by slowly. And Eric couldn’t stop thinking about what the three of them spoke about.  
Hell, he drank a juice with a rock star! At least he thought she was a rock star.

He spent the night looking her up on the internet that day. He knew it wasn’t very smart of him to do so, but he couldn’t shut this voice inside his head that was wondering what kind of girl Demi was.

It is only three days later, on Sunday morning that his phone buzzes. Demi sent him a text apologising for the night they spent together. It was stupid of her to have left this way just because of “Bran’s word diarrhea”.  
He texts back explaining it wasn’t a problem, he liked spending time with them anyway.  
“Spending time with them anyway”, what a douche!  
When Demi answers, a few seconds later, Eric sights realising he was holding his breath while waiting for her text.  
“Do you have plans for tonight? I could kill for sushi.”  
Without thinking twice, he answers that he loves sushi - even though it isn’t his favorite dish at all - and asks for her address.  
Damn it! And, we say girls aren’t good for texting …  
After seconds that felt like hours, Demi texts back an hour and a place, then nothing.

***

Gosh I can’t believe I just invited him here for sushi! What’s going on with me, for God’s sake?  
Today is the only day off Demi has. She is leaving for Sao Paulo in Brazil the next week and has a lot of rehearsals for her tour these days. And, instead of staying home watching television in her pajamas as she usually do, now she has to wash her whole house in order to welcome Eric for a sushi night.

After polishing every inch of her house, Demi took a shower and tried on three different outfits before the fateful hour was almost there.  
At 7h30, she goes through her leaflets she collected over the time and finds a sushi menu.  
Ok now, what am I supposed to order?  
Demi loves sushi, that’s for sure. But she never really ordered them. It is always Bob her manager or Bran who chooses what to eat. Plus, she has no idea what Eric likes.  
Never mind, she will get a bit of everything.  
The delivery guy comes at 7:54, not that Demi is checking the time every minute. It is only at 8:03 that her phone, which is not leaving her hand since half an hour, buzzes showing “Candyman” on the screen.  
She answers not too quickly, but without making him wait too long, and gives him the instructions to come to her house.  
When Demi hears the doorbell, she replaces the boxes of sushi and hurries to the door.  
“Hello there,” she says opening the door. “come on in”.  
When he enters her house, Demi is surprised by his white T-shirt. Can she actually see tattoos on his chest through it?  
When she realises she is staring at his stomach while both of them are standing in the hallway, Demi gets a whole of herself and shows him the way to her couch.  
“I don’t know what kind of movies you like so I picked a few different ones. At least, if you want to watch a movie.” She says showing tons of DVDs on the coffee table. “Unless you prefer watching TV or listening to music, I don’t mind.” She adds a bit stressed out.  
Eric gets his coat off and seats on the couch looking at the sushi.  
“Movie sounds great!” He says with a big smile that reassure Demi.  
Gosh I have no idea what I’m doing right now.  
Eric searches through the DVDs and picks a couple of them. “I see you like horror movies.” The way he says “horror movies” with that strong British accent brings butterflies to Demi’s stomach.  
Oh yeah, say “horror movies” again.

The night went by pretty well. They watched Silent Hill while eating sushi with Demi commenting every scary scene without being able to stop herself. But it didn’t seem to bother Eric.  
After the movie ended, they opened a bottle of Root Beer and started to discuss about quite everything.  
After half an hour, a silence started to settle.  
“Can I ask you a question?” Eric starts breaking the awkward silence.  
“Yeah sure” Demi answers repositioning herself on the couch.  
“Why did you ask me to come?” Eric must have seen Demi’s surprise because he adds, trying to explain himself. “Not that I don’t like being here with you, but you said you were leaving for two months next week. This is your only day off, don’t you have friends or family to see before you go?”  
Demi doesn't know if it is a genuine question or if it is kind of a reproach, even though Eric is smiling. Maybe he doesn’t feel good being here. It is true that they don’t know each other that much. But he came, didn’t he? Maybe he is right, she shouldn’t have invited him like that. Maybe he is a psychopath, who knows? What was she thinking? Or maybe he is waiting for something more, he has been flirty all night. Or then again, maybe she is just being paranoid and he is just curious. SHE is the psycho here, she is the one who invites a total stranger in her house.  
Demi feels the red rushing up her face, which Eric must have seen because he puts his hand on her lap as he tries to make her more comfortable. And this clearly doesn’t work.  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to embarrass you, love. I am just curious.” He says explaining himself while Demi drinks her soda trying to get some consistency back. He takes his hand off her knee before adding, his eyes right inside hers “To be honest, I wanted to know if we were on a date or something.”  
At that Demi spits out her drink on Eric’s face and shirt, feeling immediately embarrassed.  
She puts her hands on her mouth before rushing to the napkins to try and mop up the liquid spread all over his face.  
“Oh my god! I am so sorry! I can’t believe I just spit on you like that.”  
After wiping his face, Eric puts on a big wicked smile and asks : “Should I take that as a no?”  
Demi opens her mouth but nothing gets out of it. After a few seconds focusing on Eric’s white soaked and now semi transparent shirt, she answers : “I am sorry if I had misleaded you. I like being with you and I must admit, your British accent is extremely… interesting. But I am not into dating these days. I just think… we have like… this chemistry? I feel like I can talk to you easily and… maybe… if you’d like of course… we could be friends?”  
Woah that was the most difficult thing to say.

Another awkward silence settles while Eric seems to be thinking about what she just said. Then he stands up, takes the bottle of Root Beer, feels their glass and brings his own up in front of his face.  
“Alright then, friend. Drink up!”

***

Now that the things are clear between Demi and Eric, he can stop feeling awkward about this relationship. Demi looks like a nice girl and Eric could need someone in the friend zone right now. Even though he must admit to himself he felt a bit heartbroken when Demi split out her drink on his face. But this is good! Now he could feel like he really was enjoying his life in Los Angeles, at least for a week.

He wasn’t able to see Demi for the rest of the week, she was way too busy and Eric had to take care of his Candy Shop anyway. But that didn’t prevent them from keeping in touch. He even grew to like receiving Demi’s texts every ten minutes giving him every anecdotes she was living through.  
The day before Demi had to leave was pretty calm, she only texted a few times. Even though Eric spent his time watching his phone in vain, he could understand. She is preparing for her big departure. Two months is kind of a big deal.  
It is way past 8pm when Eric hears a knock on the Candy Shop store. As he stands up from behind the counter, he screams “We are closed” before realising Demi was standing behind the door.  
He rushes to the door a big smile on his face.  
“What are you doing here?”  
“Did you really think I would leave without saying goodbye?” she answers half smiling.  
“Well, come on in.”  
“Actually, Mr Candyman, I was hoping to take you on a ride.”  
Eric looks behind her shoulder spotting a grey car he has never seen before.  
“Are you abducting me, young lady?”  
“Stop playing and grab your things!” she says punching him on the shoulder.  
“Alright, alright. But can I at least know where we’re going?” he replied amused.  
“Nop, it’s a surprise…” Demi answers grabbing him by the hem of his shirt.

***

It took a few minutes for Eric to recognize the way they were taking, as Demi could see. After being excited and moving every second, Eric now stares through the window wondering what was going on. Demi had planned a nice evening for the two of them. She is leaving tomorrow and she just wanted to see Eric one last time.

When Demi parks in the parking lot, she looks quickly at him to see if he has a clue of what she prepared for them. But he just pulls the handle of the front door looking at the Hollywood Sign. His green eyes and blond hair are shining with the moon light.  
Demi gets out of the door and opens one of the back doors to take her basket. As Eric looks at her with an interrogative look on his face, she hands him the basket.  
"Care for a picnic?"  
"So that's what this is about, a midnight picnic?" He says looking inside it.  
"A 9pm picnic under the Hollywood Sign." She corrects him showing him around with her hands.  
"Isn't it supposed to be illegal to come close to the sign?" He asks crossing his arms around his chest, frowning.  
"Oh come on! Don't be so British, I came here a hundred times. I know a place where the cameras can't see us get through the fence." She goes to Eric and pulls his arm. "Come on! Trust me."  
"Alright, alright. But if I am arrested for felony this is all on you."

As Demi expected it, it wasn't hard to go through the fence. The hardest part was to climb Mont Lee avoiding the security cameras. But they eventually made it to the sign and sat down under the second "L".  
While demi was putting down the sheet she brought, Eric was putting out what was going to be their dinner: a few sandwiches, some fruits, pieces of cheese, vegetables and even a bottle of grapefruit juice.  
A proper picnic, as British people would say.  
Demi had also brought candles, but with all the spotlights that surround them, they don't even need those.  
They sat there, talking about Demi’s tour while eating, making some jokes from time to time, making them both laugh for a few seconds. After about 20 minutes, the spotlights turned off and Demi had to light up the flashlight that was still inside the bucket.  
After quite some time, as they were finishing their last glass of grapefruit juice, Demi heard a strange noise coming from behind. She panicked instantly, she is kind of afraid of everything, except maybe horror movies. When Eric sees Demi freezing, he reacts right away. He shuts the lights off and comes closer to Demi as if it could make the intruder not see them.  
After what seemed like an hour in the dark, the noise came closer. Demi felt her heart beating in her head, what if it was some kind of a freak looking for drugs?  
The place was, in fact known for those kind of rendez-vous, a story that she didn’t really want Eric to find out.  
The only thing Demi could see with the moonlight was Eric’s silhouette, as well as the shape of a bush behind him. And, of course, his eyes - and what eyes…  
As Demi starts to relax looking into Eric’s eyes which were looking back into hers, the intruder came out of the bush behind Eric making them both jump in surprise.  
A man was stumbling in the dark too wasted to see where he was going. Demi puts a hand on her mouth to steady her breath while she was freaking out inside. Eric puts his head slowly on her back. He must feel her trembling next to him.  
But the man doesn’t seem to notice them and disappears as fast as he came.

After a whole minute, Demi turns the flashlight on again and finds Eric looking at her with a look of concern in his eyes.  
“I’m okay” She assures him. But before she can add anything, Eric takes her head inside his palms and kisses her gently on the mouth.  
She can taste his breath which tastes like candy - how surprising - and returns the kiss.  
But after a few seconds, she starts to realize what is going on and pushes him away with both hands, her head starting to burn.

***

“What is wrong with you?” Demi cries out, “I thought we were clear on that!”.  
Demi stands up as her face is turning red with anger.  
Oh god was the only thing Eric could think of. He was frozen trying to figure out what just happened. Ok, maybe he shouldn't have kissed her, but she kissed him back, didn’t she? As he returns to his senses, the anger starts to boil in his vein. He reacted like a normal man would react, he didn’t do anything wrong for God’s sake, nothing that would require this kind of reaction. They were having a picnic under the Hollywood Sign, she even brought candles, God damn it!  
“What is wrong with you!” he starts as he stands up as well. “Are you playing with me? Am I supposed to be your play toy whenever you feel like you need a distraction and then dump me when you don’t feel like playing anymore?”  
His voice is calm and steady but a bit too high than he wants it to be. He knows he is frowning and the anger is fixed on his face. Maybe this is why Demi doesn’t say a word and let him get this off his chest.  
“Is it how you work? Is this the reason why you have no one else to spend your last day in the US with before going on tour?”  
Hurt forms on Demi’s face. Okay, maybe he’s been too far. As he sees tears forming in her eyes, his muscles relax and he regrets instantly what he said. He opens his mouth to say something but the words don’t come. Demi turns around and leaves.  
“Wait!” he cries out trying to reach her, but she hurries to the car which makes him feel like he shouldn’t insist.  
He rubs his face with both hands and starts to put things from the picnic back in the basket. He feels so stupid he could slap his own face right now.

When he seats on the passenger side of Demi’s car, he tries to look at her but she just looks at the road, her cheeks still red and her eyes as black as the night sky above them.  
He buckles up and Demi starts the engine.  
No one says a word during the drive back and when they arrive at Eric’s place, he ties to talk to her, but she doesn’t even look at him.  
“Thank you for the lovely evening” he tries without any succes. After a few seconds examining her face he adds “I am sorry, I shouldn't have said these things. And I shouldn’t have kissed you.”  
“Just go home.” she interrupts him still looking at the road.  
“If this is what you want” he says getting out of the car. As he turns to tell her he would call her in the morning to say his final goodbyes, he stops his hand still on the car’s door. Tears are rolling down her cheeks. She looks at him, then at the door and bend over to reach the door handle. This is the last time Eric sees Demi before her plane takes off to Demi’s South America Tour.

***

Since Demi came to his Candy Shop a month ago, Eric cannot complain about the success of his little business. He may even be able to hire someone to help him. He didn’t have any news from his favorite rock star since she left him in front of his door three weeks ago. But that doesn’t mean he’s not checking the Internet to find out where she is and what she is doing. He even watched a few videos of her shows on YouTube.  
He tried to call her the next morning and sent her a few messages, some he wasn’t very proud of. But he hasn’t found any answers yet. He could understand if she was still angry with him. Or maybe she just turned the page. They wasn’t that close after all, they had met a few days before the picnic situation. He still felt a bit hurt, though. He liked the girl. And he must admit, his ego isn’t responding very well to the fact that she is enjoying her time in South America, at least this is what it looks like when he reads her tweets.  
But he’s been very busy at the store during the last few weeks and he doesn’t have time to check on Demi as much as before, which is a good thing. He is starting to forget about this whole crazy story. He’s even started to hang out with a loyal customer, Devin likes to show him around. They began sort of a new tradition, every tuesdays, they go to a new bar to try its bears. They haven’t found any as good as the Nawcastle one yet, but they won’t let go before they do.

Eric is in his flat enjoying a chinese take out kind of food and watching TV when his phone starts buzzing in his pocket. When he puts it out and looks at the name of the person calling, his heart skips a beat : “Demetria Lovato”.  
He doesn’t know what to do exactly, not being able to clear his thoughts. He stares at the screen for a few seconds before pushing the “ignore” button. If it’s important, she’ll leave a message, he thinks putting his phone back to his pocket.  
But as tough as he can be, Eric cannot help but hoping his phone will buzz again.  
Which it did a minute later. But this buzz is different and it looks like Demi just sent him a text this time. Hesitating to put his pride aside, he opens the text :  
“Hi Eric, how are you? I hope everything is fine in LA! Heard the Candy Shop is getting famous :) miss you xx”.  
And what am I supposed to answer to that? He thinks trying to find the best answer he could get. After trying the sassy Eric and the angry one, he ends up writing back :  
“s’alright in LA, how ‘bout you?”.  
He waits a minute to hit the send button. Not too fast.  
At that, she answers a few seconds later :  
“All good thank you :) I’m a bit tired though, not to complain! haha I’m in Colombia now, sooo beautiful. Wish you were here ;)”

***

Oh god, why the hell did I send that?  
Demi is in her hotel room, she just got back from her show. It’s been three weeks since she left and this is the first time she actually texts Eric. And she is stupid enough to say “wish you were here”. Just like that, out of the blue. Gosh!  
She wanted to call him so badly, apologize and everything, but she was so ashamed about her behaviour. The thing is, she really likes Eric, a lot. But she is not ready to date anyone, not right now. Plus, she is far away so it is not physically possible. So why the hell did she try to call him and texted him right away?

She has a really great time out there. She is singing and rehearsing all the time and when she doesn’t, she visits the countries she is in with Brendan, even though he isn’t always up for it. After every show, they always throw a party in one of the team members’ room. Although Demi doesn’t do drugs and alcohol anymore, she still have a good time with her friends and colleagues. She’s even grown to like watching out for them when they are wasted. As long as they stay in the room, there is nothing to worry about.

One week ago, Demi was having a concert in Venezuela and her ex-boyfriend Wilmer came to surprise her. It was so good to see a familiar face, other than her tour team. She knows the only reason why he took his week off to come here with her is because he is still in love with her. But as handsome and gentle as this 35-years-old actor can be, she didn’t feel the same about him anymore. She just needed to have a friend other than Bran with her. Plus, Wilmer always like to discover new things and places. He is a very sportive guy and never says no to a little trip in the outland. But spending time with him made her think about Eric, not that she didn’t think about him before. She can’t help but comparing them. How Eric would have sent her a text after getting back to his hotel room, how he would have pronounced the words differently, how she would have been able to see his tattoos on his arms. She was becoming obsessed with him. One day, she even stalked him on facebook to see his pictures. But she had never thought of sending him a facebook friend request before and his pictures were blocked. She couldn’t really send him a friend request now, even though she almost did that day.  
Thinking about Eric everyday wasn’t a very good thing to do and she knew that trying to forget him by spending time with Wilmer wasn’t a good idea either. But she had to do something right? Plus, Eric didn’t try to contact her recently, maybe he just turned the page.

Why trying to contact him now, then ? Well, she doesn’t have an answer to that right now. Maybe she just needs to hear his voice - or his accent.

***

A knock at the door interrupts Demi from her thoughts. It is Wilmer, she knows it. This is his last night in town and he wanted to spend the after show with her. But with all this Eric texting thing, she didn’t even had the time to change her clothes.  
“Just a minute please” she cries as she was putting a pair of black jeans on.  
When she opens the door, Wilmer is patiently waiting by the door, sexier than ever with his black T-shirt and blue jeans.  
Demi grabs her purse and joins him in the hallway. They are supposed to go to a typical restaurant as her tour team is having a party in Bran’s room. As they go to the car Demi ordered, she takes Wilmer by the arm which is way too muscular to be normal.  
It is a typical night between two friends. They have dinner, Wilmer drinks red wine while Demi prefers a Coke. They laugh and remember old times. But there is something odd about the way Wilmer is looking at Demi.  
As the night goes by, Demi chills off and let even Wilmer lean across the table to whisper something about the waiter in her ear. We are just old friends, nothing to worry about.  
But when the waiter comes in with her dessert, Wilmer puts his hand on Demi’s as he is sharing an anecdote about his job and starts to fondle it with his thumb. This is when Demi starts to realize she should be going home.  
She stands up so fast confusion is forming on Wilmer’s face.  
“I forgot I had this thing… you know” she tries to explain before rushing to the entrance of the restaurant.  
Wilmer puts some bucks out of his pocket to pay the dinner before he tries to get to Demi’s. When he sees her waiting outside for the car to come and get her, he approaches her slowly.  
“Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?”  
“No, it’s just… I’m tired that’s all.” she answers looking at her feet.  
Wilmer comes closer to her putting his hands on her arms. “Are you sure? You can tell me anything, you know?”  
Demi’s muscles relax when she sees Wilmer’s soft look with his beautiful hazel eyes. She sighs and say : “I am sorry, I just have my head somewhere else.”  
“I have always loved this thoughtful look” he says looking her right into her eyes before leaning in. When his lips touch Demi’s, she freezes in shock. What the hell!  
Then she feels his hand going up her thighs to her butt. At that, she starts to push him off of her. But he is too strong to fight. He draws both his hands on her body going up her breasts with his nasty mouth still on hers. OH GOD!  
She tries to push him out again but this is no use. She feels his right hand going down to her stomach before going under the hem of her t-shirt.  
As panic runs through her veins, she starts biting his lower lip as strongly as she can until she tastes blood in her mouth and Wilmer lets her go.  
She takes this opportunity to run out of his embrace and rushes to the car that just came across the corner.  
When she closes the door, she locks it up to make sure Wilmer cannot enter and follow her anymore. This is when she realizes she had stopped breathing until the door was firmly closed and tears had started falling down her cheeks.

***

It is 10am in the morning and there is no customer in the Candy Shop yet. After analyzing three resumes and taking stoke, Eric didn’t have much to do anymore.  
Leaning on the counter, he puts out his phone to look for the tenth time Demi’s text she sent two days ago. Maybe he should have answered to this one. Aaaanyway, what’s done is done.  
As he scrolls down his previous texts, he starts to wonder how she looks now. It’s been more than a week since he checked up on the Internet. Maybe it was time to do some research.  
He types her name on the Google search and find the usual links like her Wikipedia page or her Twitter account.   
He chooses to click on her Twitter account, but there is no tweet since the one she posted three days ago.  
He goes back and scrolls down the page to the “In the news” section.  
The first article displayed is showing a blur picture where a couple is kissing by the entrance of a restaurant. The title reads “Demi is back with her ex Wilmer Valderrama!”.  
Eric freezes looking at the date written underneath the title : “1 day ago”.  
Oh so this is what she’s been up to? Fooling around with her bloody ex-boyfriend? So much for not being into dating!  
The anger rushes through Eric’s vein. Was it all a game? Did she text him in case her ex-boyfriend didn’t want her anymore? Was it all a bloody lie?  
“Wish you were here …” Fuck that and fuck her! He’s not just a stupid British guy she can play with whenever she likes! What a stupid little rich twat, so used to have whatever she wants she turns people into toys!  
And the funny thing is that he was ready to forget everything and give both of them a second chance. Fuck!  
As he goes to the Candy Shop’s back room, he kicks some boxes of candy with his feet to calm himself. But he was feeling an ache in his chest and it was difficult to think about something else than this picture.

At the end of the day, he came home to his flat still as angry as he was this morning. He wasn’t hungry so he decided to take a bear out of his fridge and to watch TV all by himself.  
Of course, the only thing he could think of was this guy smooching Demi. If he was in front of him, he could kick his fucking ass and punch him in the face several freaking times.  
When he finished his first bear, he took out another bottle, and another one, and another one. At the fourth, he was starting to hear a little buzzing in his head and he felt like his head was in a bubble.  
This is when Demi chose to call him again.  
As he reaches for his phone, a lot of ideas comes through Eric’s mind. Like the one saying it was the perfect occasion to give Demi a piece of his mind, maybe insulting her a little just to feel a bit better. But when he picks up the phone and hears Demi’s voice, all of his angry thoughts leave his brain.

***

“Eric! Hi! Thank you for answering my call.”  
“...”  
Demi's heartbeat is racing like never before. She can feel her hand shaking while she is holding the phone.  
She clears her voice and tries to start a conversation, even though she can feel Eric's exasperation on the other end of the line.  
"How are you? It's been a long time! Do you still like it in LA?"  
After a few seconds Eric answers with a bit of irritation in his voice.  
"Why did you call me, Demi? Is there a specific purpose here?"  
God, she had forgotten about this British accent. But as sexy as it could be, Demi couldn't help but feel hurt. She didn't really have the best days of her life this week.  
She hadn't talked to anyone about what happened with Wilmer. She was so ashamed. She knew she shouldn’t feel this way. It wasn't her fault, she didn't do anything wrong. But she felt so bad about it. Well, maybe she did do something wrong, mislead him or something. She knew deep down she was blaming herself for what happened.  
“I just wanted to check on you.” She answers in a whisper. “I am really sorry about the other day. I shouldn’t have acted this way. Can we call it a truce?”  
“Why have you waited three weeks to come ‘check on me’?”  
“I just …” Demi didn’t know what to answer to that. It is true, she could have called him earlier or maybe just answer his texts. But she really wanted to focus on her tour. After a few days of radio silence, she wanted to call him to apologize but she couldn’t find the time. “I know I screwed up, it seems like I am screwing up a lot these days. But please forgive me, I really need a friend right now...”  
“To talk about your boyfriend?” Eric interrupts.  
Great, he’s seen the pictures.

***

Sweat is forming in his palms as anger travels through his veins again. His heart beats way too fast and he can’t help but feeling hurt. He knows his answer wasn’t fair, childish even, but he couldn’t control himself. And he thought he wasn’t the jealous type.  
He was fine without her. He had found a friend to spend time with and had even started to flirt with some girls in bars. Why did she have to send him a text after three weeks? He thought Demi was just a fun experience and that it was over now. But listening to her voice, listening to her pleading tone made him want to hug her tight. Come on pal! You’re supposed to be angry right now.

After half a minute of silence, Demi answers slowly. “It is not what you think”.  
“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that answer at all.” Eric knows his British accent makes the irony more obvious, but he didn’t really mind.  
“I mean, I am not back with… him. We just spent the night together as friends.”  
“Oh you just spent the night together?”  
Eric doesn’t know what to think about all this. He doesn’t even know why he hasn’t hung up on her yet. He was overreacting, he knows it. He needs to calm down, show her he doesn’t even care. They are not a couple, she made it crystal clear. She has the right to spend her nights with whoever she wants - kiss whoever she wants for that matter. Just like he has the right to date any girl if he feels like it. But still, his head burns with anger all the same. She lied to him all along just to go fool around with someone else.  
“Not like that! I haven’t slept with him if that’s what you’re asking.”  
Eric’s blood starts to burn threw his skin.  
“I am not bloody asking anything. You don’t have to explain yourself to me anyway.”  
“Of course I do, you are my friend.” This fucking word again. We are not friends. We never was. They have to stop lying to each other. They can never be friends. You can’t be friends with someone you have feelings for! Eric felt the alcohol leave his minds instantly as he realises what he was thinking of. That’s when he decides to hang up.

It took him an hour to calm down. He didn’t think about this stupid photo anymore. He was only thinking about one thing : he had feelings for Demi. His mother told him once “when you love someone you have two choices. Either you wipe her from your existence or you fight to have what you want”. And even though this isn’t love, it can’t be, he is not leaving without a fight.

Eric takes back his phone and hits the “call” button when he’s in Demi’s contact info. She answers after a bip, her voice very weak. Her “hello” sounded like she spent the last hour crying which broke Eric’s heart.  
Without further ado, he asks: “When are you coming back?”  
“In ten days.” She answers without hesitation. “I still have to go to Argentina, Chile and Ecuador.”  
“And what will you do once you’re back?”  
“First, I’ll come to see you at the Candy shop?” And why does she have to play with my nerves like that? “Then, I have a new album to record.”  
“No tour?”  
“No, I will be on break.” Good “What about you? What’s up in the city of lights?” she asks, her voice still trembling.  
After spending almost an hour on the phone, talking about almost everything just like the three past weeks never happened, Demi admits she needs to go to sleep, she has a venue tomorrow. They wish each other a good night and hang up.  
Eric has some trouble falling asleep that night. But after turning for the tenth time in his bed, he slowly starts dreaming, dreams he cannot remember in the morning.

***

The days go by pretty fast. After their conversation, Demi and Eric take an hour every day to talk through Google Hangout. Eric hired help in his shop so he finally has time to apply all the ideas he had when he first thought about his Candy Shop. Every day after work, he joins Dev to have a drink, a habit which starts to cost him too much money. He only has his sundays to rest from the long week even though he usually takes this opportunity to get things done with the shop. He has a lot on his plate. He wants to redecorate the store and find a proper supplier. But just a few more days and he will be free as a bird.

Talking about being free, Demi’s South America Tour is about to end and she will be back to L.A. very soon. But Eric doesn’t think he should go and see her right away. Even though he feels a strong need to hug her tight, she must need some time to spend with her family. Gosh, how can he miss her so much? Eric really likes the girl, that’s a fact. But he cannot think about her this way. Not yet. He needs to have a plan. Or is it too psycho to have a plan to win somebody’s heart? Why was it so complicated, for God’s sake?

***

Demi is watching through the window. She can’t wait to come home, it has been more than a month since she left to go on tour. And even though she has been waiting for this flight for weeks, she still holds on tight to her seat as the airplane takes off.  
The last days have been very complicated. She keeps on having nightmares in which she sees a man with a blank face following her wherever she goes. Everytime he gets closer to her, she wakes up sweating and paralyzed. She cannot sleep, nor eat, the only thing she could focus on were the shows. But now that they are over, she doesn’t really know how she is going to react. The only thing that could keep her from thinking about... Wilmer... and all those nightmares are her hangouts with Eric. His British accent and his smile makes her sort of comfortable. She is so excited to be able to see him in real life again, but she needs to see her mother first.  
It may sound childish, but she really needs her mom right now.

After a few hours of drowsiness, Demi wakes up as the airplane is starting to go down. She looks around her to find Brandon sneezing in a seat behind her. She stretches her hand to shake him. “Bran we are landing”.  
Bran wakes up noisily and extends his arms with a loud yawn. When he accidentally touches Demi’s shoulder she instantly jumps as if he just punched her very hard. For a few seconds, she cannot move or speak, she just stands here, her eyes blank. What the hell is wrong with me?  
It is not the first time her body reacts this way without obeying to her brain. Ever since the “Wilmer situation”, as she keeps on calling it in her head, Demi can’t control herself when a man touches her. But Bran? Come on girl! Get a grip! It was just a fucking kiss…  
When she finally gets back to her senses, she starts to pack up her things in her purse waiting for the plain to stop moving. As she watches through the window, she can vaguely see the Hollywood sign up ahead.  
“Finally home” she whispers to herself.

***

Eric is in the office in the back room of his Candy Shop. There is not much space but now that Liv is here to take care of the customers, he uses his time to take care of the paperwork. Not that fun.  
As he reads back the last sheet of the financial report for last month on his computer, he puts his hands around his cup of tea like he used to when he was in University. The kettle is the first thing he bought to decorate his new working space. He wouldn’t have been able to work that hard in this back room without his usual morning cup of tea, as well as the lunch tea and the afternoon tea. God, he really was a cliché! And he doesn’t even know how he manages not to pee every hour of the day.  
Anyway, back to the expenses now.

“Hum, Eric?” Liv knocks on the door as her face appears at the other end of the room. Her blond hair tied up in a quick low bun looks like it’s shining at the sunlight coming through the door.  
Finally, a distraction!  
“Yes?” He answers with a big bright smile.  
“Someone’s asking for the owner …” She looks shy, almost afraid. She’s been here for almost a week now, but she still doesn’t feel comfortable around him. Maybe he smiles too much, she must think he’s a bit hypocrite or something. As he stands up to see who the heck was unhappy with his candies, he makes a note in his head to stop smiling every time she looks at him.  
As he goes to the shop, he looks at the unhappy customer and it turns out it is not an unhappy customer at all. He could recognize her curves anywhere, even from the back. Of course.  
“Demi! You’re back!”  
Her face illuminates as she turns around and looks at him.  
“As if you didn’t know I was coming back today…”  
She opens her arms and he runs to her to hug her as tight as he can. But as he rubs her back, he feels her tense. She is as rigid as a stick. Confused, he postpones, his hands still on her shoulders, and looks at her face which is as pale as a ghost.  
He quickly analyses her face, feeling more and more scared as he looks at her.  
“Are you OK? Are you going to be sick? Do you want to seat down?” He asks looking for Liv behind him.  
It takes her a minute to come back to her senses. She looks up at Eric who is still watching her in the eyes as he is looking for something but doesn’t move. After a few seconds, she turns slowly around and leaves the shop in a rush without saying a word.  
“What the bloody hell?” is the only thing Eric can think of.

After spending the last hours as pissed off as he could be, Eric decided to go home trying not to think about Demi. What the hell is wrong with her anyway? She looked so scared as if he was about to crush her or something. That girl is a bloody challenge! What did he do now? God, this doesn’t make any sense. Hope it’s not because of me... So much for not thinking about her, eh?

***

Eric parks in front of his building and turns the ignition off. He gets off the car, locks the doors and starts walking to the stares. Demi is watching him from the side. She was waiting for him seated on a stair of a parking lot trying to organize her thoughts. She already know what she was going to say. First she asks him if she can come in. Then she tells him everything about the Wilmer situation. And finally she tells him how much she is sorry about everything and how much she cares about him. She doesn’t want to lose him and he is the comprehensive type.  
As she starts to walk to Eric, she sees him taking his phone off his pocket and answer to a call.  
That’s when she realizes she is scared to death. It is the first time she is alone in the street at night since Wilmer and she cannot bare it. She starts to hyperventilate and a rush of tears is starting to roll down her cheeks. With her shaking hands, she takes her phone out of her purse and call the only person who can help her right now.  
“Mom, I need you to pick me up. I’m having a panic attack”.

***

As Demi is looking at the ceiling, she is trying to think about how she is going to dress today. It is a big day after all, she is finally ready to get out of her bed. It’s been four days since she came back to LA and she haven’t left her house since. She is on break so no one at Hollywood Records is suspecting a thing, not that she is able to know anything about it since her mother took her phone when she picked her up a few nights ago. She needed this. She hadn't slept like that in days. The nightmares stopped and she was starting to put the whole Walmer story behind. The bad thing is that she hasn’t been able to see or talk to Eric. Her mom let her send him a text a few days ago to tell him she was sick and she was coming to see him as fast as she could. But nothing since. She must admit she was hoping, maybe, he could have came to see how she was. But this would have been a difficult situation to face, considering. Anyway, she wanted to be sure to feel better before seeing him again. She wanted to be able to touch his arm without having a panic attack.  
Now was the time.

After trying a few outfits and getting ready, she headed up to the candy shop. 11am on a thursday, Eric should be working.  
As she enters the shop, she sees Olivia, the girl who works with Eric taking care of a few clients. She waits in line and hope Live will recognize her.  
When it is her time to be served and after exchanging some casualties with the blond girl, she asks to see Eric.  
Liv looks at her in surprise. “He didn’t tell you?”  
“Tell me what?”  
“Eric went back to london yesterday.”  
Demi didn’t know what to answer. She felt empty, she wasn’t expecting that. Did he left in a hurry? He must have, otherwise he would have taken the time to come and see her, wouldn’t he? Did something happen?  
“Did he say why?” she asks as worried as hell.  
“No, just that he needed a few days off”.  
A few days off? What does that mean? Is it because of her? Maybe he didn’t have his text, maybe he took her reaction very badly. Oh god, what the hell is wrong with the world!

Demi tried to call him like ten times since she left the shop. She doesn’t know what all of this means, she need explanations. And that’s exactly what she said to Eric’s voicemail. Every call was going straight to it. Why would he go in such a hurry? It couldn’t be because of her. Did something bad happen to his family? If she remembers well, Eric’s mother lives in London, in Clapham something. Maybe this is where he went?

***

Eric is walking through the streets of Clapham North his hands in the pockets of his brown coat. I am definitely not used to that weather anymore.  
This coat was the only one left in his mother’s house. It was his favorite one when he used to live in London. And now he remembered why he hadn’t take it to L.A., too warm. But it is exactly what he needs right now.  
When his mom had called him to say that his step-father, Rick, had had a heart attack, he hadn’t thought about the weather here. He had just bought a plane ticket online and hurried to pack some clothes. An hour later, he was at the airport trying to put his shoes off to pass the security. Everything happened so fast he hadn’t even have time to text or call Demi. And along with all his warm clothes he had had the good idea to forget his phone in his bedroom. Or was it in the bathroom?  
Anyway, now that he had bought a new sim card he could be able to connect it to his old phone left in here, hoping it still works.

As he was looking to the parc on his right, he was starting to feel nostalgic. He hadn’t have time to enjoy being back in his old town yet. After his 10 hours flight the train from Gatwick and the tube, he went straight to the hospital to see his step-father. After reassuring his mother, he had to go to Heathrow to welcome his step-sisters Lainy and Debby. As they went to see their father, he came home to sleep in his old bedroom which hasn’t changed a bit.  
When he woke up this morning, Lainy had welcomed him with a cup of tea and a good news : Rick was OK, he just needed a few days to recover.  
After eating his breakfast and taking a good hot shower, he got dressed and went to Clapham Common to look for a new sim card.  
Now, he was feeling home. He has walked these streets a thousand times and remembers every bit of it, even though it had changed a lot since he’d left his family home. How he loved this neighborhood!

As he arrives at the famous number 121, he walked through the portal and knocks on the door. It is Debby who opens with a big smile. As he takes his coat off and go to the living room to get his old phone, his sister follows him. He sits on the couch trying to open the damn phone and Debby does the same. He stops and looks at her.  
“What is going on?”  
“I know it is not the best circumstances, but I am so glad to see you brother” Debby answers putting her arms around his neck as she used to when she was a child.  
“Alright, alright” he says pulling out gently from her embrace. “You haven’t told me how was life in Australia.” he adds after rubbing her face.

Elaine and Deborah were his step-sisters. After Eric’s father died from a car accident, his mother met Rick at work. They kept the secret of their relationship until his mother got pregnant with Elaine. Eric’s mother was afraid of her son’s reaction to another man in his life. Now, Rick is like a father to him and his sisters are the best things that ever happened to him and his mom. He was very protective with them, especially Debbie. But they kind of lost contact a few years ago, when Elaine - Lainy as people call her - left to Australia to study medicine. Australia was the first country he thought of when he decided to leave the UK, especially since Debby joined her sister to Canberra. But after listing the pros and cons, he decided L.A. was better suited for his plans of starting a new shop and a new life. Living in the US was a dream since he was a little boy.

“This is awesome! Really! I understand why Lainy didn’t want to come home anymore.” Debby said jumping on the couch, way too excited for her own good. “What about you? Did you find a proper American girl? Or boy, I’m not judging!”  
“Well, now that you mention it… I met someone. His name is Patrick, he is 62 and has three sons who already call me dad!” Eric answers tickling his sister.  
“Haha, you’re such an ass! I was about to give you a speech regarding the fact that I will love you no matter what.”  
“That’s good to know”. Lainy appears from the corridor and comes seat on the carpet in front of Eric. “How is your candy shop, bullhead?”

***

Eric hasn’t cooked for a long time. In L.A., he is just used to order take outs or just eat steak and pastas. It is not the same when you have to cook for others as well. It’s a shame because he has always been a good cook.  
Today, it was home made pizza, her mother’s favorite dish. She loves it because we can put anything on it, which is good regarding all their different tastes. Now that Rick is recovering, his mother will be able to come home to get some rest and enjoy the presence of her children. Lainy decided to cook her a proper dinner for the occasion. So, pizza it is!  
While Eric prepares the base, Elaine puts the toppings and Deborah sets the table.  
Eric was putting the two pizzas in the oven when Debby rushed to the front door after hearing a quick knock.

***

God, what am I doing here exactly? Demi asks herself trying to fix her hair in her reflection from the white house’s front window. After a nine hours flight and a one hour ride there she is, in front of Eric’s mother’s home. Bran was the one who had found Eric’s old address in London. He had called the tenant who told him Mr Eldersmith’s mails were transferred from this house. After a long search, Bran had found that it was owned by a certain Meredith Gilbert, formerly Meredith Eldersmith.  
That’s when she called her driver and the agency she uses for her private flights.

The door opens slowly interrupting Demi from her thoughts.  
A thin blond girl with green eyes appears, still holding the door. After a few seconds, her eyes open wide with surprise.  
“I am sorry to bother you. I am looking for Eric? Eldersmith?” Demi asks trying a shy smile.  
It takes a second to the girl to react. She turns around without letting the entrance door free. “Eric, love, someone’s here for you!” She screams with a strong British accent.  
When Demi hears footsteps coming in, she adjusts her leather jacket trying to look her best. The door opens entirely and Eric appears as handsome as ever.  
“Demi!” he freezes in surprise. “What are you doing here? What are you even doing in London?”  
Before Demi has time to respond, he turns to face the blond girl who is watching them her back on the wall. “Could you give us a minute, please?”  
“Mmmh mmmh, I’m not leaving you alone with freaking Demi Lovato.”  
Well, hello to you too!  
Eric turns back to Demi and says with a big smile “Come on in, then”.

As Demi walks through the corridor, she can see Eric muscles tense and his hands shake a little. Is he stressing out? Is she stressing him out? That’s not good. And who the heck is this blond girl calling him “love”? Is she his girlfriend? Does he have another life here in London? Get a grip, girl! Stop being paranoid.  
She decides to concentrate on the interior of the house. On the right, after the entrance, there is an office with a big white couch and a table with a computer on top of it in a corner. As she follows Eric and the blond girl, Demi enters in the living room. In front of a big couch facing the entry is a big flat screen. Behind the couch, she can see a big american kitchen which leads to a conservatory on the right side of the room. The table is set and Demi can smell food baking in the oven. Maybe she is bothering them.  
As Eric offers to take her coat, another girl, brown hair and as gorgeous as the blond one, comes out of the kitchen. Oh come on! Is what Demi thinks first.  
Eric must have seen Demi’s skeptical expression because he shows the blond girl with his hands and say : “Demi, here’re my sisters Debby and Lainy. Debby, Lainy… Demi.”  
Sisters! Good! Is it why he looks so stressed? Demi meeting his family?

She rushes to hug them to say how happy to meet them she is while the girls don’t move.  
Eric seats on the couch and is joined by the girls leaving no place for her. OK, maybe she shouldn’t have come.

***

This is a definitely odd situation. Don’t get him wrong, Eric is very happy to see Demi here in his mother’s house. But he wasn’t expecting that. And the girls won’t be gentle on her, he knows it.  
Lainy crosses her arms across her chest and looks at Demi in the eye.  
“So, who are you again?”  
“I’m…”  
“She’s a friend” Eric interrupts her, feeling the room getting colder. He hates this word and don’t want to qualify their relationship with it. But now, he prefers to hide behind it. At least for tonight. His sisters won’t believe him anyway. And there will be an interrogation, that’s for sure. But right now, he needs to talk to her alone.  
He stands up and puts his hand in the middle of her back to push her out of the room. After a little jolt, Demi follows him to the office.  
As she seats on the couch, Eric closes the door, leans against the table and puts his hands in his pocket.  
“Why did you come here, Demi? I mean…”  
“I thought... maybe… something bad had happened. I wanted to make sure you were OK.”  
“You came all the way here just to see if I’m OK? I’m flattered, but you could have called me or sent an email or something, right?”  
“I tried! I called you like a hundred times, straight to voicemail.”  
‘Right! My phone, I forgot it in L.A. I was about to use my old one when you came in.”  
Demi starts to stand up “I am so sorry to come here without warning. If you want me to leave, I’d understand. I can find a hotel or something. Maybe you need to be with your family.”  
Eric comes closer to Demi and puts his hands on her arms “No, no, no. Stay and dine with us. My sisters will be happy to ask you all the worst questions ever.”  
Demi doesn’t feel that well, she wants to get out of his grip and run out of here. But she has to fight this sensation. He is not Wilmer. He’s Eric, he is not going to hurt her. Still, she starts to hyperventilate and take a step backward.  
“Demi, are you OK? What is going on?” She seats down and takes her head with both hands. Calm down, Demi. Calm. Down.

***

This again? Why is she acting so odd these days? It looks like she is afraid of him. But she came all the way to London. There must be a reason, right?  
Eric seats next to her and tries to reassure her stroking her back. She freezes again. He decides to let her breath for a few seconds.  
“Are you OK, love?”  
“I just need a minute” she answers without raising her head.  
After a moment, she starts to breath normally again and looks at Eric who didn’t move. She raises her hands and put them hesitantly on his lap.  
“Do you remember this picture of… Wilmer and I?”  
Eric nods without knowing where this conversation is going.  
“I wasn’t… consenting. He kissed me, I tried to get out of his grip, but he was too strong. I pushed him away and he tried to… caress me.”  
“Wait, what are you saying?” His veins are starting to boil. That fucking son of a bitch!  
“I haven’t been raped if that’s what you’re asking. It’s just... “ Eric feels ashamed. And pissed as ever. No one touches Demi! No one. “I got rid of him biting his lower lip so it’s not a big deal. But I’ve been experiencing panic attacks every time a man touches me, since then. That’s why I acted so strange when I came back from the tour. I really am sorry.”  
“Oh no it’s not your fault, love! It’s that bloody bastard, if I could put my hands on him…”  
Demi smiles at him.  
“What?”  
“Nothing, I’m just glad you’re not mad at me.”  
“Why would I be mad?”  
“I don’t know, you left the country without saying a word.”  
“Is that why you came? You thought I was angry because of how you reacted a couple of days ago? I just thought you were sick.”  
“Why did you come here, then?”  
Eric stands up and starts walking across the room.  
“My step-dad, Rick, had a heart-attack. I came home to be with my mom until Rick recovers.”  
“Oh.”

The door opens and Elaine appears in the opening.  
“Hello love birds. Mom’s here and dinner's ready. Is your lady going to eat at our lovely table?”  
Eric looks at Demi.  
“Hum, sure?”

***

Dinner was very nice, a bit strange, but very nice. Eric’s mother, Meredith, was a strong woman. She was happy to meet one of Eric’s American friends. Elaine and Deborah were very quite. They didn’t do any sassy comments or asked inapropriate questions. They didn’t even talk about her job. Demi didn’t feel comfortable, though. She was feeling like she wasn’t in the right place. Maybe she wasn’t. Eric was with his family in a country she’s been only a few times in. She didn’t know any of the people she was eating with and she was in a total stranger’s house. It was a bit intimidating. And so far, she is still wondering what she’s doing here. But then again, Eric was here, smiling and being sexyier than ever with his blond bun. He looks happy by her side. He spent the whole dinner sharing anecdotes and praising her qualities. She even felt like he was flirting from time to time. Demi liked that. It was exactly what she needed right now.

When the dinner was finished, Meredith left the table claiming she needed to sleep. Demi and Eric helped the girls clear the table and do the dishes.  
Once everything was clean, they sat on the couch with a cup of tea which sounded a bit strange to Demi, but whatever.  
“Alright young lady. Don’t think you can escape a serious discussion.” Lainy says facing Demi. “You are Demi Lovato, right? The American pop star? What do you want from my brother?”  
“Nothing, we’re just friends. He protected me from a horde of paparazzi” she says poking his arm.  
“Just friends? Do you take a private jet to visit all your friends?” Deborah answers.  
“Well, you know when you are a billionaire you do stupid little things like that.” Eric says a wicked smile on his face. Oh yeah, say ‘little’ again.

And the interrogation begins. She spent an hour answering questions like “do you really sing live?” or “Is Joe Jonas a good kisser?”.  
Then they went to bed. Lucky for Demi, the girls had had a big day and were too tired to continue all night long. And she is going to be here the next day anyway.  
Eric offered her to slip in his old bedroom while he would sleep on the couch in the office. She refused, he insisted, so she accepted.  
Now she is about to go to turn the lights off and go to bed. She changed into Deborah’s pajamas because, of course, she didn’t think about grabbing her own before leaving. Thank god she thought about her toothbrush. And of course, she looks fat in those pajamas, she definitely doesn’t have the same body as British girls.  
Eric must have changed here because there is a white t-shirt on the bed. Wait, is it the t-shirt he was wearing the night she spit on him?  
She takes it in her hands and turns it around. It sure looks like it, and it smells like it. God he smells good.

As Demi reaches for the light to turn it off before going to bed, she sees her phone lighting up on the bedside table. She almost forgot about it. She hesitates before looking at the screen. Let's face it, she's never been good at ignoring her job.  
Three phone calls, two vocal messages, eight texts and three emails.  
Almost all of them came from her agent. Demi decided to only look at the texts for now :

"whr the heck r u?";  
"U'r supposed 2 be recordin right now!";  
"???";  
"oh so m'am decides 2 leave 2 London without a word??";  
"u'r trip is all over the news! Hope there's a reason 4 it!";  
"hope u ok, though";  
"when r u comin back?".

Demi really needed to teach him how to write correctly.  
The other text was from Brandon :

"The freak's on your ass ... Enjoy :) xx"

Demi only texted back her agent before falling deeply asleep.

"Sorry for the radio silence. Had to face some personal things. Coming back ASAP".

***

“Alright, I’m not buying it. The girl, a pop star, comes here to London just because she is worried about you. And you really think there is nothing going on between you too?” Lainy is at the kitchen table eating her breakfast in her pajamas.  
“She’s not into that” Eric says for the hundredth time.  
“Still not buying it.”  
“And what about you, brother?” Debby says washing the dishes.  
“What about me?”  
“Don’t play dumb with us, Eric” Lainy answers with a reproving look on her face. “We know you! You act with her the same way you used to act with Caroline…”  
Caroline was his first real girlfriend from five years ago. They were living together in London when Eric learnt she had been cheating on him for months. That bitch. Maybe he hadn’t got over this story yet.  
“Just leave me alone, would you?”  
“Eric’s got an american crush!” Debby started sing songing right when Demi entered the room. Great, thanks a lot.  
As Demi comes in, Eric stands up right away and offers her a chair.  
“What do you want to eat? Cereals? Waffles? Tea? You eat in the morning, yeah?” OK maybe I’m a bit obvious.  
“What do you eat in England?” Demi asks with her eyes wide open.  
“Well, I would say… eggs? Sausages?” She doesn’t look very satisfied with his answers so he adds “but maybe you should start with English muffins, salted butter and jam.”

***

After a cup of tea with some milk - which is not that bad after all - and two entire muffins, Demi stands up and starts doing her dishes.  
“Oh! So, pop stars really do their own dishes.” Lainy says crossing the room. Eric’s sisters don’t seem to like her very much. But Demi doesn’t really care right now. She is starting to like being here. Or does she just like being with Eric? This is something she should think about. But she’ll do this after going back to the US. Right now, she will just enjoy her time in the UK, especially since Eric’s step-father is OK.

Visiting London with a Londoner is like eating breakfast with a chef, you can discover things you wouldn’t even know it exists. Eric and Demi spent the whole day all by themselves chatting, joking and walking through the streets of London. It’s a big city and there is a lot of things to do there. They went to Central London, the City, Noting Hill, Camden, Kensington, Greenwich and even Ealing. They finally ended up in a Starbuck’s in Clapham Junction. They’ve been joined by Eric’s sisters and spent another hour just talking and drinking coffee. Astonishing as it sounds, no one bothered her today with a camera or anything.

When Demi got home, she reached out for her phone she left in Eric’s room and there were tons of messages. She knows she has to come back to record her new album, but it’s been so good being here, being with Eric and everything. She was even thinking about maybe buying a flat in London. Get a grip girl, you can’t leave everything behind. But it was so tempting. Leaving the music industry behind, the fame and living a normal life in the UK. Just like the singer in Taylor Swift’s “The Lucky One”. That would be so easy, leaving everything behind, this Wilmer thing and all, and start a new life. But it’s not that easy, is it? The only thing she had to do is call her management team and tell them she won’t do it anymore. She won’t have her bonus and would have to pay back the record reservations, but who cares? Just a click on that green button and she would be free. Just a simple click…

“Demi?”  
It’s Eric in the crack of the door. He’s got a worried expression on his face.  
“What’s wrong?” She asks throwing her phone on the bed.  
“I think we should go back to L.A.”  
“Why, what happened?” Now she was getting worried.

***

They were both on the plain to go back to Los Angeles. They had to say a quick goodbye to Eric’s family before hopping on a cab and going to the airport. Demi couldn’t believe what just happened. She had to call Brandon in a hurry to learn the details. This is all her fault. Eric’s dream going out in flames, no pun intended. Why would someone burn the Candy Shop to the ground?  
According to Bran, some pictures of Demi and Eric had been taken by a paparazzi in London and were sold immediately to the news. Everyone was saying she had an affair with the “Candyman” while this little bastard of Wilmer was waiting for her to come home. He had even talked to the press saying he was heartbroken, that son of a bitch! Then a psycho thought he could take the matter into his own hands and decided to avenge the poor fucking asshole. And now they had to come back. Eric had to face the damages and deal with the insurances and Demi had to talk to the press. She had a meeting with her team at her arriving in LAX. They had to figure out what she had to say.

When they got to the airport, they were both so stressed out they separated in a hurry with a simple wave of the hand. Her vacations were definitely over. God damn it!

“Ok, it’s easy. You just need to say that you are good friends since he helped you a couple of months ago and you’re still a happy couple with this lovely Wilmer.” Howard was saying.  
“We’re not a happy couple, we’ve never been.”  
“Well, just pretend for a few months, just so people can forget about your mysterious trip to London.”  
Demi didn’t tell her management what happened with Wilmer and she sure didn’t want to talk about it with Howard. She hadn’t even told Bran.  
“Can’t do.”  
“For God’s fucking sake Demi! You need to stop being such a child!” Howard said moving his arms all over the place.  
They were in his office, the one she signed up in for the first character of the Camp Rock saga, a few years ago. This place hadn’t changed since then. The same pictures are on the wall, the same old gold records and everything hasn’t moved a bit.  
“I just can’t pretend to be with Wilmer, OK?” She said holding the tears in her eyes. Things were going so well, why did this have to happen?  
“OK, OK” he said after a pause. “You’re the lucky star, right?”  
“OK” he added pacing the room. “We just have to play the friend card then. You were under pressure during the tour, trying to please your fans and all. You had to take a break. You went to your friend’s in another country. Just a friend.” He stops, looking at her with joy on his face like a kid who just opened his Christmas present. His office hadn’t changed, but he had. He was getting older.  
“I…” Demi didn't want to play the just friends card. If she did, it meant nothing would ever happen between her and Eric. If she told her fans they were just friends and they hooked up a few months later, she would lost her credibility… and her fans’ trust.  
“Oh! What about… he’s gay and dating Brandon! You went there to get to know your best friend’s boyfriend!”  
“WHAT! Are you out of your mind?!”  
“Just think about it! It would be the perfect solution! How adorable of you to make sure your best friend’s boyfriend is a good man!”  
Demi got up not being able to control herself. “I’m not doing it Howard! I’m not!”  
“Come on! I’m trying to help here!”  
“Ok for the friend card…” Desperate times call desperate measures, right?

***

Eric hangs up the phone. He wasn’t very happy about the solution Demi’s management team had found. But desperate times call desperate measures, right? His shop had freaking burnt to the ground! What kind of crazy stupid people would do that? He had worked so hard on that shop, he couldn’t believe it was gone now. Of course, his insurance was giving him part of his money back. But he couldn’t just rebuild it out from the ashes. Demi had offered him money saying it was her fault, but he would never accept it. Call it British ego. His dream had disappeared in flames and he didn’t have anything to do in the US anymore. His visa was about to expire now. It would be better for him to go back to London, especially since Demi was giving up on him. They were just friends now, right? They will be able to talk on the phone as friends an ocean apart. Never mind, he didn’t have the strength to fight anymore, anyway. He’ll just pack his things and go back home.

***

Demi was about to go live in a few minutes. She was in her dressing room getting prepared. Melissa, her make up artist, was finishing her face. Bran was at her side, trying to make her tell her speech. But she couldn’t right now. Her voice was trembling and she felt like she was about to faint. What if it was the biggest mistake she could ever make? What if she had to follow her guts for once and tell the truth? No she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t live what she went through when she went to rehab all over again. She had to think smart and try not to make mistakes. And that fucking Wilmer made it so complicated to go back to the truth. Anyway, if she couldn’t talk about what happened to her loved ones, she would never be able to talk about it in front of all the American people. No, this was a good thing. It was the best solution. She has to act normal, to say how Eric is just a friend and how her relationship with Wilmer isn’t going that well. She had to get out and see other things to figure out if she can still be with him or if they had to break up, which they did years ago. But Eric is just a good friend to talk about her relationship with. Ok, she knows her speech, she is ready.  
“Demi? You’re up in 3.”

***

Eric decided it was time to take a break from his packing. Devin comes out of the kitchen with two opened beers in his hands. He seats on the couch next to Eric, giving him one of the bottles. He leans to take the remote control on the table and turns on the TV.  
After zapping, trying to find some music videos or something, he stops at chanel 178. Demi is on the screen as beautiful as ever. She is sitting on a couch chatting with a TV host he doesn’t know.  
“Turn that off” He says to Devin without being able to take his eyes off the telly.  
“I think they are talking about you, man”  
“I said turn that off” he repeats getting upset. So that’s it. She’s just about to throw their relationship away in front of millions of people. Just like that. He bets she learnt her speech perfectly.  
“... I have seen the pictures and what happened to Eric’s shop, of course. But before talking about Eric and I, I would like to speak to you, Lovatics.” She starts watching the camera. “You’ve been here for me since the beginning, through the ups and downs. And God knows how many downs there was. And for that, I am very thankful. But destroying a property is not. right. It is against the law and, by doing that, you destroy something someone has really worked for. Don’t ever do that again. To anyone.”  
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the camera Demi.  
“With that being said, I would like to be clear on my relationship with Eric. It’s not what you think it is.”  
Then Demi freezes.

***

The girl who hosts the show is still looking at her with a big smile. Waiting for Demi to go on. But her thoughts are mixing up in her head. What is she doing here? What is she supposed to say? Is she supposed to lie? Is it good to lie live? It feels like she hasn’t said a word for ages. She cannot move and the girl is still looking at her, losing her smile. She feels sweat forming on her forehead. That’s not good.  
“Demi, is everything ok?” It’s Howard on her earplug. “Do you want me to tell you your speech?”  
Demi looks around her. Everyone is looking right at her face expecting the rest of her sentence. But she is so lost right now. Her chest is getting heavier and she starts to hyperventilate. Oh god, I’m having a panic attack live on television! Think Demi, think!  
She is trying to take deep breaths as no one dares to move. She tries to think of the things her mother tells her to calm her down. But it doesn’t work. Not now. Not live on television. Then she thinks of Eric. Maybe he is watching the show right now. Maybe he is panicking too. Or maybe he is just packing his things with his boy friend. What is his name, already? Devin! She remembers when he first talked about him. He was so proud to have found a friend in LA.  
“Demi?” Howard breaks her out of her thoughts. She is feeling better now. She is ready to speak.

 

***

Did Demi just had a panic attack on TV? God, what he wouldn’t give to be able to be with her right now and hold her hands and make her feel safe … Oh come on mate! Stop thinking like that!  
She looks better now. Maybe it would be time to turn off the telly.  
But Demi puts her feet under her bottom on the sofa and he cannot look away.  
“I’m going to tell you something I’ve told to a few people. This is about Wilmer and I. And it is something everyone should know about. Big breaking news.” She says repositioning on the couch.  
As Demi explains the whole story of how Wilmer harassed her, Eric starts to feel bad about everything. He can’t believe she is telling the whole story to everyone. He can’t help but feel proud of her.  
“Oh man!” Devin says as Demi finishes her story.  
“The truth is,” she says going back to the camera “Eric, if you hear me, I love you. I’ve been loving you since I spit on your shirt, as strange as it sounds, and if I wasn’t so afraid of how I feel, this thing with… Wilmer - I still have troubles pronouncing his freaking name - wouldn’t have happened. Stay. Please.”

***

“Give me your car keys.”  
“What?”  
“Give me your car keys.”  
“Are you serious?”  
“I sold my car, I need a ride. Give me your car keys.” Eric asks becoming to be excited.  
“Ok, but I’m coming with you.”

***

Demi hears a knock on the door. When the show ended, she ran to her dressing room and locked the door. Her phone kept buzzing on the table. She didn’t want to see anyone, especially not Howard and hear all about how she went crazy wild. She just wanted to be alone and breath. She couldn’t believe what she just did. Another knock on the door.  
“Just leave me alone, please.”  
“Demi, it’s Eric.”  
Oh god, Eric! She didn’t think about the fact that he could come to the studio. Of course, people would have let him go through with what she just said.  
She stands up and hurries to the door.  
When she opens it, he rushes in, closes the door behind him and crosses the room to take her in his arms and kiss her as hard as he can.  
Ok maybe THIS was the best solution ever.  
“I’m not going anywhere.” He says in a breath.


End file.
